


make my wish come true

by falsealarm



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 18:49:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8928898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falsealarm/pseuds/falsealarm
Summary: "Kara said she could come over whenever she was free, had literally texted Lena saying she would welcome the company so she knows she isn’t going to intrude but Lena’s three hours early and she doesn’t know if that welcome extends this far ahead."
AKA Lena shows up early to a friend get-together at Kara's and things get festive (and flirty) real quick.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote way too much and this is completely un-beta'd so all mistakes are my own. Please enjoy this fluff.
> 
> Written for [All I Want for Christmas is This Ficathon](http://ratherembarrassing.tumblr.com/post/153919688653/a-peripherally-xmas-related-fic-bomb-a-thon-the).

The street is empty outside Kara’s building and it’s cold out, windy enough to bite at Lena’s cheeks. Lena’s hands are shoved deep into the pockets of her coat and she looks at the front door with tired eyes, cautious, like maybe it’ll bite.

It’s been three weeks since her mother’s arrest and things have just started to quiet down for the holidays. The trial has been pushed to March but Lena’s still had FBI agents in L Corp every day this week, keeping a watchful eye on the company, on Lena. It’s tiring, the looming shadow of distrust, but Lena’s had years to get used to it, almost welcomes this newest layer because at least she knows it’s warranted this time.

A vicious wind rips at Lena’s back, pushing her towards the building and she stumbles on a raised corner of sidewalk, curses silently. Kara said she could come over whenever she was free, had literally texted Lena saying she would _welcome_ the company so she knows she isn’t going to intrude but Lena’s three hours early and she doesn’t know if that welcome extends this far ahead.

Her morning had been productive. She caught up on sleep, made breakfast, read two newspapers mostly front to back and paid her bills all before 11am. She had even managed to finish the book that’d been sitting on her nightstand for the last three months but afterwards she’d run head first into a wall.

Lena doesn’t have free days. She has work dinners and 3am calls with London and work lunches and 9pm calls with China. She has press releases and research studies and R&D proposals and shareholder meetings. She has triple espresso shots and scalding hot showers to wake her up, red wine and sleeping pills to knock her out. But _today_ she has none of that, no one to meet with, no calls to make or errands to run. Even her inbox has nothing more than a press release she’s read thrice before and a few HR emails about employee reviews. She is without everything in her usual routine and it’s unsettling to say the least.

What she does have is plans with Kara Danvers.

A few nights before Kara had texted Lena asking if she’d like to come over for a movie night on Saturday. That she was having friends over to watch some holiday classics and that she wanted Lena to be there too, had promised it wouldn’t be weird and that everyone would be nice, even Alex. Lena had to stop herself from replying immediately, had literally left her phone in her office while she took a lap around her floor. She spooked a few new hires with drop by check ins, scanned the break room fridge and then needled Jess about details for an upcoming meeting. She’d only returned to her office when she could see the hair on Jess’s arm bristle, a sure sign that she had at least four calls on hold and that Lena was becoming a nuisance. She’d returned to her office and thought for a solid five minutes about her reply, had settled on something brief:

_Yes, that sounds nice._

Because it did, _does_ , definitely, even if Lena has never been one for the holidays, feels the press of them, the memories they bring, suffocating, but she couldn’t turn Kara down. So she’s outside Kara’s apartment, two hours and fifty-five minutes early, wind whipping her hair into an unruly mess, hands still fisted in her pockets because Kara Danvers is her only friend and if Lena has free time she’d very much like to be spending it with Kara.

Lena composes herself on the walk up: smooths down her hair, checks her lipstick in a pocket mirror and by the time she’s at Kara’s door she’s back to pristine. She smells something sweet in the hall, hears the muted sound of Christmas music through the door and she smiles, tries to imagine the scene inside as she knocks.

There’s a muffled “come in!” and when Lena tries the door handle it’s unlocked so she turns it, pushes the door open and her imagination honestly had not done the scene before her justice.

Kara’s apartment is properly decked out in Christmas cheer. There’s a tree by the far wall, still bare of ornaments but strung up with lights and the lights continue along the windows, twinkling in and out. There’s a box full of glittering garland near the couch and a matching one next to the kitchen island that Kara swiftly kicks out of the way as she bends to open the oven. When she pops back up she’s wearing an apron that looks like a Santa suit, holding a tray of sugar cookies and Lena wants to be surprised but honestly it’s exactly what she expected.

Kara’s all smiles when she sees Lena, despite a brief flicker of surprise. “Lena!”

“Sorry,” Lena says after a few seconds of silence, eyes still glancing back and forth between Kara and the dazzling wonderland that is her apartment. She spots a row of miniature reindeer on a far windowsill, snowflake patterned cushions on the couch and a matching throw on the chair nearby. “I’m terribly early.”

“That’s okay,” Kara says with a small laugh as she sets down her tray of cookies and turns around to close the oven. “I actually thought you were Alex.”

“Oh, will she be here soon?” Lena feels a twist of disappointment at the thought of sharing Kara but bats it away because Kara has friends, _family_ that she likes and if she wants to spend time with them she has every right to. Lena isn’t _Kara’s_ only friend.

“She was supposed to,” Kara trails off as she frees a hand from an oven mitt and reaches for her phone. She’s a little bit of a mess, hair in two loose braids and a dusting of flour on basically every piece of her clothing but it’s charming in the way that Kara always is. As Lena takes a step further into the apartment to shuck her coat and drop her bag on a stool at the island she even sees a bit of flour on Kara’s nose.

“Okay, well she was _supposed_ to but apparently her girlfriend is holding her hostage so it’s a good thing you showed up early instead.”

Lena perks an eyebrow at the word ‘girlfriend’ but isn’t terribly surprised, she’s met Alex before, there was a certain vibe. But Kara says the word like it’s new to her, like she’s happy to be able to say it and Lena’s a little curious, is on the edge of a question when Kara comes whizzing up to her.

She’s bubbling with energy, practically humming with it as she asks, “How good are you at icing cookies?”

She’s got a bag of icing in her hand, nozzle tip already affixed to the end and she isn’t shoving it into Lena’s hand but Lena does find herself holding it by the time she’s standing next to the island. Kara guides her there with a gentle hand at the small of Lena’s back, innocuous in the way girls are with their _friends_ but Lena feels the loss its heat acutely as Kara turns around to grab more cookies from the oven, babbling on while she does. “We probably don’t need to frost all the cookies, I might have made too many.”

Might is an understatement; the island is literally _covered_ in sugar cookies. Every square inch is rack, save a small work station in the center, and every rack has a heaping collection of differently-shaped cookies sitting on top. There are Christmas trees and stars and reindeer and snowflakes and a small collection of flamingos. A few on the corner look like they might be TIE fighters and Lena is about to ask for confirmation when Kara bumps her hip as she sets her second tray of cookies on the stove top. Lena feels herself squeeze the icing bag in her hand, feels the edge of the nozzle against her stomach and Kara turns quickly, looks at Lena wide-eyed, face already going red with embarrassment.

“Oh my gosh, oh I am _so_ sorry,” Kara turns back around, practically throws her oven mitts over her head as she scrambles to wet a towel. She wipes at Lena’s shirt carefully but the icing is a vibrant blue and Lena’s poor blouse is white and this was never going to end well.

“Kara, it’s okay,” Lena tries to say but Kara’s got both hands against Lena’s abdomen and her whole body gets a little hot. This isn’t exactly what Lena was looking for when she showed up but Kara’s hands are warm and her face is literally inches away from Lena’s navel so she’s not going to complain.

After a few, fantasy-inducing seconds Kara’s hands stop moving and she looks from the shirt up to Lena’s face like she’s finally realized what she’s doing and her eyes go wide again. Lena swears she’s never seen eyes that blue before, gets the faintest fluttering of something in her chest. Kara’s still all apologies when she speaks again but it’s a little softer and Lena thinks she sees a touch of red at her neck, blooming from the heat maybe or...

“I have a sweater,” Kara takes a step back, holds the wet towel in both her hands, “I mean you can wear one of my sweaters if you want.”

Lena smiles, watches Kara’s nervous energy manifest in a glasses adjustment, a gentle swallow. “That would be great, thank you.”

Then Kara’s turned on her heel and she’s into her room and back out with a sweater in seconds flat, her feet moving so fast it almost looks like she’s floating. Lena makes a mental note, files it away in her _Kara Danvers Is Probably Supergirl_ folder, then takes the sweater as it’s offered. It’s black with neatly stitched reindeer and a Santa sleigh running across the chest, a city sits at the hem with a twinkling of white stars scattered between the two. Lena smiles at the sight of it, because of course this is something Kara owns, how could it not be?

“Is this okay?”

Lena laughs, smiles, “well it’s not my style but at least it’s black.”

Kara’s brows furrow like perhaps she’s disappointed at Lena’s reaction and Lena quickly corrects herself, “no, Kara, it’s great. Thank you.”

Kara perks up a little, smiles as she directs Lena around the corner to the bathroom. Lena changes quickly, leaves her blouse hanging over the edge of the shower after wiping a little more at the icing. She’ll have to get it dry cleaned, might even have to toss it out but the loss seems worth it as she pulls the sweater over her head and catches a whiff of something warm and flowery, a scent Lena has come to recognize as uniquely Kara. She gets that flutter again, sighs and closes her eyes, tries to will herself into a more platonic state of mind. Kara is her _friend_ , the only one she has in this city and Lena doesn’t want to ruin what they have, no matter how nice Kara Danvers smells. She takes a calming breath as she walks back into the main room but when she rounds the corner Kara’s still got flour on her nose and she’s licking icing off her finger. Lena’s deep in trouble on all fronts today.

When Kara catches sight of her she smiles wide. “You look great!”

“It’s little tight across the chest,” Lena says with a laugh because the reindeer have been stretched across her bosom. Not enough to warp them considerably but they do look a little off which Lena finds genuinely funny.

Kara’s eyes flick to Lena’s chest briefly and the red at her neck is definitely not from the heat with the way it flares as her eyes quickly move up to find Lena’s again. “No, it, you look nice.”

The butterflies whirlwind in Lena’s stomach and she does her best to ignore them, takes another deep breath to calm herself. She moves back to the kitchen island, to Kara, and pushes the sleeves of the sweater up to her elbows. “Okay, what needs doing?”

Kara smiles again, picks up her first cookie and just like that they’re icing left and right. Kara makes quick work of the larger swaths of icing while Lena takes a steady hand to the detail work, deftly switching between piping bags until they’ve iced nearly half the cookies in sight. It’s a little exhausting really and Lena hasn’t iced anything, let alone cookies, since she was a kid but Kara’s humming along to the Christmas music and keeps dipping her fingers into the icing and maybe Lena isn’t as humbug as she thought she was.

“I’m glad you showed up early.” Kara’s spreading red icing over what Lena assumes is a Santa hat but might be an ice cream cone, she honestly can’t tell.

“I can’t say this is what I expected when I arrived but it’s,” Lena searches for a word as she pipes the last string of lights on a Christmas tree cookie, settles on, “nice.” It’s probably the nicest Saturday Lena’s had in years and they’ve only been together for half an hour.

Kara’s smile goes all the way to her eyes when she hands over her cookie. Their fingers brush against each other during the hand off and Kara lingers a little, almost runs her fingers along Lena’s knuckles as she says:

“You’re really good with your hands.” Then she stops, almost animatronic in how fast she goes still like she can’t believe she’s said what she’s said out loud. Lena can’t help but smirk, waits patiently for Kara to correct herself because this has happened before and every time is more amusing than the last. It takes Kara a long few seconds to recover, to boot back up but her shoulders relax then her hands fly back to her icing and she continues, “I mean, you’re much better at this than Alex is.”

Lena eases her smirk into a smile, can’t help the flirtatious tone of her voice, “I’m glad my hands could be of assistance.”

Kara swallows, mumbles something that sounds like “sure” or maybe “yes” then she’s back to her cookies. Lena glances at Kara’s neck, finds her skin red all the way up to her ears and shakes her head before turning back to her cookies.

They work in amiable silence for a while until Kara starts humming along to the music again and by the time she’s mumbling lyrics to herself they’re three-quarters of the way through the island of cookies. Kara finishes icing the cookie in her hand but instead of handing it over she lifts it to her lips and takes a huge bite of it. She gets green icing all over her lips and Lena immediately has the urge to kiss them clean, decides to bury that feeling in her own cookie instead. She takes a bite of a star and is a little taken aback by how scrumptious it is.

“Kara,” she says after she’s finished chewing her bite, “these are delicious.”

“My mom’s recipe,” Kara says in the midst of a second bite, “chemically formulated for perfection.” She says it in a joking sort of way but Lena can tell it’s probably a legitimate statement too with what little she does know about Kara’s mother.

“I need help with garland next, is that,” Kara swallows her bite, “is that okay? I don’t want to make you help if you’re tired or anything.”

She’s choosing her words carefully now, Lena can tell by the stunted way she’s speaking, but she still has green icing on her bottom lip and Lena watches with rapt attention as her tongue skirts out to take care of it. She knows she’s staring, nods but doesn’t really redirect her attention as she answers, “no that’s fine, I’m happy to help.”

Kara’s lips slide into a bright smile and then Lena finally looks up, finds those shining blue eyes again and feels a tickle of something warm run up her spine.

Sexual attraction is one thing. Kara’s beautiful by literally _everyone’s_ standards, she’s tall and lean, her hair is shiny, her smile is always bright and she smells like spring, no matter the weather. Honestly, Lena has yet to spend time with her without imagining pressing her up against a wall at least once but that’s Lena’s normal reaction to beautiful women. But this, this tender feeling beating against Lena’s ribs is an entirely different monster, one Lena would prefer to keep caged.

“Okay, awesome.” Kara removes her apron, hangs it on the side of the island then moves to the garland box by the couch. “Okay some is for the tree but most of it is for the walls really, or just, like everywhere?” She crinkles her nose, furrows her brows like she’s having a hard time articulating what she wants Lena to do. She pulls a particularly glittery string from the box and hangs it around her neck, followed by a longer red and white string that just keeps coming as Kara pulls it out.

“This one,” Kara starts as she pulls again, hand going up high over her head in an effort to pull it free. Lena’s eyes immediately drop to the newly exposed skin of Kara’s stomach, her shirt hiking up as her arm reaches higher. Lena sees the shadow of abdominal muscle, the hint of the vee of her oblique’s too and Lena feels her body flush hot. Maybe she should’ve stayed home a few more hours.

Kara pulls out another link, lifts it high into the air and just as she’s hit her max reach again the end of the garland tumbles out of the box. It’s at least thirty feet long, a pile of red and white in Kara’s arms. “Okay this one is for the long wall,” Kara says, pointing to the wall opposite the kitchen, “just, well I’m sure you know how garland works.”

Lena’s mouth is a little dry but she smiles as best she can then nods her head in confirmation, “I do.”

Kara carefully hands over the shining mass then sets a tape dispenser on top and Lena smiles, nods her head again and moves to the wall to scope out how best to tackle it. She does some quick calculations, eyeballs the places she needs to tack up the garland to get the proper droop then moves to place the first bit and realizes she’s about three feet too short to reach where she needs to be.

“Kara?” Lena turns around and finds Kara face deep in the Christmas tree, tucking the extra glittery bit of garland into it. Lena does not admire the shape of her ass.

“Yeah,” Kara calls out, voice muffled.

“Do you have a step ladder?”

“A step,” Kara starts, pulling herself out of the tree to face Lena, “oh, a step ladder.” She looks puzzled for a moment, bites her bottom lip. It takes her nearly thirty seconds to reply, she starts one answer, abandons it then tries another and abandons it too. It’s almost like she’s trying to come up with an answer that sounds believable and Lena makes another mental note. Third try is the charm: “Alex usually brings the step ladder.”

It’s a flimsy lie and Lena wants to laugh at it but then Kara’s walking towards her with what looks like an idea gleaming in her eyes and Lena is curious. “A stool will probably work, right?”

Lena turns, eyes the stool at the island and winces a little, “well if by work you mean ensure a painful fall, then sure.”

“Oh,” Kara stops, winces too. “Um, what if I hold it steady?”

Lena looks around the room, scanning for anything that might work as a suitable replacement for the stool but there’s nothing in sight so Lena sighs. “My life is in your hands.”

Kara smiles then, like somehow Lena’s made a joke and really Lena’s suspicions about Supergirl’s identity are _barely_ suspicions anymore, Kara’s a terrible liar. But that’s a conversation for another day because Kara’s pulling over the stool and offering Lena a hand to help her onto it. Lena takes Kara’s hand, tries to focus on keeping herself upright and not the strength of Kara’s fingers, and climbs up onto the stool as carefully as she can. Once she’s upright she feels Kara brace the stool then Lena’s _ankle_ , hand firm and steady and Lena startles a little at the contact, almost drops the end of the garland in her hand. She works quickly to tack it up, tries to ignore the feel of Kara’s hand sliding up her calf, her knee, her thigh as she helps Lena back down off the stool. They repeat until the garland’s all hung up and Lena’s body feels half on fire with how long Kara’s hands have been on her legs.

Lena trips a little as she climbs off the stool the last time and Kara is quick to catch her, hands on her hips, holding her mid-fall with a smile. “Careful.”

And suddenly Kara Danvers is _dashing_. There’s a glint in her eyes, in her smile too and Lena feels the flex of firm biceps under her hands, feels the strength of _Kara’s_ hands at her hips and it’s horrible, Lena thinks, that she actually has managed to fall for the only friend she has in National City. Maybe inevitable more than anything with the kindness Kara’s shown towards her, her sincerity, her open-mindedness in the face of everything Lena’s family is known to be. Lena’s been lonely for so long, how could Kara not have become a bright star over stormy seas?

Kara sets her upright, lets her hands linger on Lena’s hips for a second too long and Lena tries to wave it off, ignores the butterflies raging against her stomach, her ribs and the way Kara’s eyes just flicked down to her lips.

Lena ducks eye contact, tries to find something to break the mood between them. She looks over Kara’s shoulder at the little tree and nods in its direction as Kara finally steps back. “Do we need to decorate the tree?”

Kara eyes the tree for a second, adjusts her glasses as she shakes her head. “We’ll do the tree when everybody gets here. Holiday tradition,” Kara adds with a smile. “But the rest of the garland still needs to go up. We should be able to do the rest of it without the stool.”

Lena feels the phantom heat of Kara’s hand on her thigh, feels her voice catch in her throat she says, “Should I get the second box?”

“Definitely,” Kara nods with a brighter smile.

The second box is retrieved and then they set to work on the rest of the garland. They finish another wall and the kitchen together with Kara climbing on the counter to get her garland above the cabinets while Lena keeps both her feet firmly planted on the ground. Her eyes wander though, tracing the dimples at Kara’s lower back when her shirt rides higher as she reaches up to affix her decorations. It’s harmless and Lena wouldn’t want to waste such a nice view but then Kara’s turning around and smiling at her and the butterflies toss against Lena’s ribs.

Kara climbs back down off the counter and Lena quickly turns her attention to attaching her last garland to one side of the island while Kara does the other. Kara’s been draping her strings over her neck as she works to keep them close at hand and when pulls the last string off her neck Lena stifles a laugh against the back of her hand. Kara hears it, turns to her with a curious look, brows furrowed.

“There’s glitter,” Lena says, moving around the island to reach up and brush at the nape of Kara’s neck. She pulls her hand back and the tips of her fingers are coated with a layer of silver and red and green glitter. Kara winces, reaches her own hand up to check the opposite side and her fingers are covered too.

“Whoops.” Then she’s laughing, easy and warm and the sound of it settles nicely in Lena’s chest.

“You look _very_ festive now,” Lena says as Kara rubs at the glitter again but it’s there to stay, inching up into her hairline and down beneath the collar of her shirt.

“Maybe too festive.” Every time she moves a little glitter shakes off her and Lena laughs again.

“It looks good on you.”

An almost devious little smile slips onto Kara’s lips as she reaches out to brush a glittered thumb across Lena’s cheek. “It looks good on you too.”

Lena can see a shimmer along her cheekbone, laughs, “this sweater wasn’t enough for you?”

Kara eyes the sweater again and shakes her head. “Nope, I think, hold on,” then she’s turned around digging into the garland box again and when she pops back up she’s got a set of festive headbands in her hands. She quickly affixes reindeer antlers to Lena’s head and Lena’s hands move up to adjust them as Kara puts her own headband on. When Lena looks up to identify it she swallows, eyes flicking from the headband to Kara’s lips then back up again because Kara’s headband has a dangling sprig of mistletoe on it. The spring holding the mistletoe upright moves in a gentle figure eight above Kara’s head as she shifts, settling the band a little better alongside her glasses.

“How does it look?”

Lena swallows, looks back down at Kara’s lips then back up to meet her eyes. “Fetching.”

“Festive?” Kara’s voice has gotten a little quiet and Lena thinks she sees a question in her eyes before they flick down to Lena’s lips. Lena feels her stomach knot, feels a little heat creep up her neck because Kara’s body language is giving Lena every indication of her intent.

Lena wets her lips, “Definitely.”

There’s a small moment of silence between them as the Christmas playlist hits a lull between songs then Lena hears a familiar twinkle of bells and she can’t believe the universe has managed to pull this off. There’s a smile climbing onto Kara’s lips now and Lena can hear her singing along to the song under her breath, voice getting a little louder with each line until she very audibly sings, “all I want for Christmas is you.”

Her voice is a little caught in her throat but she’s in tune and smiling wide, looking at Lena like she means what she says and Lena would be remiss to say her heart didn’t skip a beat. Then the song peps up but Lena’s hardly paying attention to it anymore because Kara’s got a hand to her neck and is leaning forward to kiss her soundly. Lena closes her eyes, breathes in the scent of pine needles and sugar cookies and _Kara_ and her whole body starts to hum.

One hand at her neck becomes two and Kara’s fingers are threading slowly into Lena’s hair as she kisses Lena a second time. Lena reacts properly for this one, surges forward to grab at Kara’s hips, kisses Kara likes she means it and Kara smiles against her lips, hums.

They part halfway into the next song, a crooning version of “White Christmas” that Lena vaguely recognizes and Kara is all smiles and bright eyes and Lena just wants to kiss her again.

But there’s a knock at the door then, a crash really as somebody bangs into it and Kara’s head turns quickly. Her hand flies up to her glasses momentarily as if to lower them but her eyes glance back to Lena and she drops her hand, moves to the door instead. Alex is there, holding a stack of boxes tall enough to obscure her line of sight and there’s a woman just behind her, dark hair and a wide smile directed at Alex, a softness in her eyes too.

“You could’ve helped,” Alex says to the woman.

“You said you had it,” the woman replies, stepping in to give Kara a side hug as Kara closes the door behind them. Alex moves straight towards Lena and Lena steps aside just in time to avoid a collision as she sets her boxes on the couch and stands upright. When she turns around she’s completely surprised to see Lena there, surprised and there’s a hint of confusion too in the way she narrows her eyes. “Ms. Luthor, I didn’t know you were joining us.”

“ _Lena_ ,” Kara says quickly, rushing over to stand next to Lena as if to protect her, “has been helping me decorate since you were late.”

Alex nods her head like she understands but her eyebrows say that she definitely wants to talk to Kara about it later. “It’s Maggie’s fault,” Alex says, looking pointedly at the woman, Maggie, who’s still in the middle of taking off her coat.

“My fault insomuch as it was _your_ fault I had to go buy candy canes to begin with.”

“Oh you got my candy canes?” Kara says excitedly as she quickly abandons Lena and dashes between Alex and the couch to dig in the boxes she’s just deposited.

“Yes, Kara, _I_ got them,” Maggie says with a grin directed at Alex who just rolls her eyes and shakes her head.

“Who wants a beer?” Alex says, already halfway into the kitchen.

Maggie raises her hand, “me.”

“I’ll take one,” Lena says too but her eyes are still on Kara as she begins to pull out one Christmas-themed party supply after another from the top box.

Alex pulls three beers from the fridge and deftly pops the caps on all of them before passing them out. Lena gets hers first then Maggie but before Alex moves out of reach Maggie leans up and presses a brief kiss to her lips. Alex melts into it a little, her shoulders sag and the muscles of her jaw relax and Lena smiles because puppy love looks good on her. But Alex steels back up as soon as she sees Lena watching them, quickly turns her attention back to her sister as Kara strides back into the kitchen with candy canes in hand.

“What else do we need to-,” Alex stops, narrows her eyes, “did you roll around in glitter?”

Kara’s hand flies up to her neck and she laughs awkwardly, “it’s from the garland.”

Alex just rolls her eyes, takes a sip of her beer. “Okay so what’s left to do?”

“Oh, we need,” Kara stops, turns around quickly to look between Maggie and Lena. “Gosh, I almost forgot introductions. Lena, this is Alex’s girlfriend, Maggie Sawyer.” Kara says, smiling again as she says the word girlfriend and Alex shakes her head as if to say _take it down a notch_ but Kara ignores her. “And Maggie, this is Lena Luthor.”

“Nice to meet you, Maggie,” Lena says with a genial smile.

“Alex told me you were friends with Kara but I didn’t quite believe it.” Maggie takes a sip of her beer, looks at Lena like she’s sizing her up and Lena isn’t intimidated but she does feel the unwelcome tickle of nerves in her stomach. She takes a sip of her own beer to quell it but then Maggie’s eyes flick from Lena to Kara, then up to Kara’s headband and back to Lena. Maggie raises an eyebrow but says nothing and this time Lena feels _guilt_ hot between her ribs, takes another, longer pull from her beer. “Nice to meet you too.”

Kara misses the entire exchange, is already back to her candy canes as she gently unwraps them, shucking the wrapping into the garbage and flitting past Lena back towards the Christmas tree where she starts hanging them up.

“Hey,” Alex says after she’s hung up a few, “save those for later. Winn said the candy canes are his favorite part.”

“Eating them is his favorite part,” Kara replies but she backs away from the tree anyways, sets the candy canes on the coffee table and moves back to Lena’s side.

“We should probably order food.” Kara pulls out her phone, dials a number saved as Pizza Heaven and immediately she’s rattling off her order. Then there’s another phone call and another order and Lena just sips her beer and tries to pretend like Maggie isn’t still eyeing her curiously.

Winn Schott and James Olsen show up together a few minutes later and she’s met them both before, likes them well enough. James talks to her about L Corp, deftly avoiding anything related to Lillian or Lex but Winn quickly derails that conversation in favor of finding out more about the black-body field generator. He’s in the middle of a 10-part question when the food starts arriving and Kara swoops in to steal Lena to help her set up. Lena thanks her quietly and Kara laughs, tells her that it’s hard to impress Winn nowadays so he’s just a little over-zealous when he finds something that piques his interest.

Lena wants to make a joke about Kara ‘piquing her interest’ but it sounds too much like something a nervous teenage boy would say so instead Lena just leans a little into Kara’s side. The corner of Kara’s mouth ticks up in a shy smile and she brushes her hand over Lena’s as they start moving cookies off the kitchen island. Lena brushes a hand against Kara’s ass when she goes to grab the paper dinnerware and when Lena looks up Maggie’s smiling at her and Lena just about knocks an entire pizza to the floor.

It's saved by Kara’s very-definitely un-Earthly reflexes and Lena makes another mental note, deftly avoids looking anywhere near Maggie while they finish setting up the pizzas.

After that Kara sticks by her side, careful not to leave her alone for too long with Winn still cautiously hounding her for more information. They talk to James for a while about CatCo, how he likes his job, how much he actually misses Cat and Kara agrees with a sad sort of sigh that half catches in her throat. Lena has the sudden urge to hold her hand, hug her maybe but there’s a knock on the door and Kara’s halfway to it before Lena even registers she’s moved. As soon as Kara disappears Winn is right back at her side but so is Alex. She moves so fast the only _word_ he gets out is a garbled “so” before Alex practically drags him into the kitchen by his collar. She gives Lena a terse smile like she understands what a pain in the ass he can be and Lena chuckles. James says something about Winn needing a shock collar and Lena laughs louder, muffles it with her hand as James laughs too.

Kara calls dinner shortly after and they all line up to fill their plates before settling onto various pieces of furniture in front of the tv. Lena ends up next to Kara against the arm of the couch with a plate of pizza and Chinese food in her lap while _The Muppet Christmas Carol_ starts playing. Kara might have a mouth full of food but that does not stop her from singing along to the opening music.

Kara’s still got her mistletoe headband on and no one has exactly commented on it but Maggie’s gaze moves up to it occasionally and that in itself is enough to keep Lena a little nervous for the rest of the movie. It’s not that Maggie’s scary, per se, Lena is a _Luthor_ she’s made of stronger stuff, but Maggie looks at Lena like she _knows_ and knowledge can be a terrifying thing, especially when Lena isn’t exactly sure what Alex’s policies on Kara kissing _anyone_ are, let alone a Luthor.

In-between movies they take a cookie break then set to work on decorating the Christmas tree. Kara’s managed to set it up in the smallest corner of her entire apartment so everyone is essentially on top of each other as they work to unpack and hang all the ornaments. Maggie gets two ornaments hung before retreating to the couch to nurse her second beer and Alex gives up a few ornaments later to join her. The boys keep going though and so does Kara who keeps using Lena to steady herself as she hangs some of the higher ornaments. That in itself is worth the eventual elbow to the face. James apologizes profusely but Lena laughs it off, tells him he’s lucky he’s handsome and he blushes a little which Lena enjoys immensely. The tree is decorated within the hour and more cookies are eaten then _Love, Actually_ starts and Lena finds herself next to Kara on the couch again.

A blanket appears out of nowhere halfway through and Kara lays it across all four laps on the couch. Then, a few minutes later, Lena feels Kara searching for her hand under the blanket. Her fingers slide against Lena’s thigh and Lena gets a shiver up her spine, momentarily thinks of letting Kara flounder for a little longer because why not? But Kara starts looking frustrated after a few seconds so Lena swiftly moves to grasp Kara’s hand. She only half watches the rest of the movie after that, focuses instead on the feel of Kara’s fingers pressing into the top of her hand and shape of her profile in silhouette against the light of the tv screen.

There are yawns around the room as the movie ends and Lena herself is almost half asleep, head lolling dangerously close to Kara’s shoulder as someone gets up to switch on a light. People get up one by one, stretching and yawning as they do and Kara practically begs them each to take cookies as they move to leave. The boys leave first with a tub each of cookies and a hug from Kara and Lena smiles cordially, nods her head as they wave goodbye.

“Call me in the morning,” Alex says as she slides on her jacket.

Kara nods, yawns and leans in for a long hug, nestling a little into Alex’s neck and closing her eyes. It’s sweet and Alex is shaking her head and smiling like Kara does this all the time but she kisses Kara’s temple as she pulls away, tucks a lock of hair back behind Kara’s ear. “Okay you can call me at lunch,” she amends and Kara smiles again in a silent victory.

Maggie gives Lena a small salute, “nice to meet you again.”

“You too,” Lena calls from the couch. Maggie smiles again and _winks_ at her and Lena hasn’t felt the urge to slip away on a breeze like this since her  Moby Dick snafu in 9th grade.

“Yeah,” Alex says as she zips up her jacket, “it was nice seeing you again, Lena.” Alex says her name like it’s a chore but Kara seems unfazed by it, pleased almost.

Lena nods her head, forces a smile onto her face as Maggie gives Kara a quick hug then they’re out the door and once again Lena and Kara are alone.

Kara still looks half asleep. Her eyelids are dangerously low and the smile on her face is drowsy when she looks up at Lena. “You should take cookies too,” she says as she moves into the kitchen to grab another tub.

She starts filling it with cookies, careful to pick the best-looking ones left and Lena doesn’t want to leave but she feels an awful lot like she’s getting dismissed. She feels the roiling cold of disappointment in her stomach as she moves into the bathroom to grab her blouse.

“I’ll return the sweater,” she says as she turns the corner to find Kara closing the lid to the tub, packed full with enough cookies to last Lena a few weeks.

“Oh,” Kara says, surprised, as if she’d forgotten Lena was wearing her sweater, “yeah, just, whenever you have the chance.”

“Kara,” Lena takes a step forward. There are a million questions running through her mind but the only thing she can think about is the kiss: the smell of pine needles, the taste of sugar on Kara’s lips, the feel of Kara’s hands in her hair. She hasn’t felt this nervous in years, her hands aren’t shaking but they aren’t exactly steady and she fists them both in her blouse as she takes another step forward.

Kara meets her halfway, soft eyes and sleepy smile and before Lena can say anything else she asks, “you still like my headband?”

Lena smiles all the way to her eyes, nods her head, “definitely.”

“Good,” Kara says then she’s closing the space between them to kiss Lena again, hands in her hair, lips sure and steady. Lena’s blouse falls to the floor immediately as her hands move to Kara’s hips, fingers skating under the hem of her shirt to find warm flesh, the easy curve of muscle and sinew. Kara hums against her mouth as Lena pushes her back against the kitchen counter, pressing into Kara’s front as she licks into her mouth. Everything feels just as good as Lena imagined it would, better even as Kara’s hands slip down to her hips to pull her closer. Lena lets her hands wander up, skating along the outside of Kara’s breasts then up to her neck, to wind her fingers in her still-messy braids. They stay like that for a long couple of minutes, until Lena hears Kara keen into her mouth, feels a shock of heat between her legs. She feels a little bit like she’s floating when they break apart and Kara is definitely humming “All I Want For Christmas Is You” under her breath. Lena smiles, kisses her again and laughs against her lips.

“You should call _me_ tomorrow too,” Lena says as she untangles her hands from Kara’s hair and takes a step back. Kara makes a small noise of protest at the loss of contact and her voice is breathy when she asks:

“What time?”

Lena bends down to grab her blouse. “Whenever you like.”

Kara nods her head, springs up from the counter to give Lena another kiss but Lena ducks it, moves to put the island between them because if they start kissing again Lena won’t be home for hours. She slides on her boots, coat too and as she moves to button it up Kara’s rounded the island after her, stands with her arms outstretched and Lena can’t avoid a hug, doesn’t want to either. Kara’s arms wrap all the way around her back and she’s warm beneath Lena’s hands, solid and stable and she smells like sugar and spring as Lena nestles into her neck. Lena kisses her pulse point softly, hears Kara sigh and smiles as she pulls back. She leans in quickly to plant a kiss at the corner of Kara’s mouth, pulls back before Kara can move to deepen it, “tomorrow.”

Kara’s still sleepy, maybe a little bit more awake now but her voice is soft between them, “tomorrow.”

Then Lena’s out the door with her tub of cookies and the taste of Kara Danvers on her lips and tomorrow feels a little like a new start.


End file.
